It's the most wonderful time of the year, but it used to be better. Of course I am not referring to the holiday season itself, a time to be spent with friends and family and a time we all look forward to every year. I am referring to the winter season in the sport of harness racing. Yes, the Meadowlands is still putting forth the best Standardbred product in the country, with long nights of racing on Fridays and Saturdays and typically full fields within those races. But I long for better winter seasons gone by. In the mid to late 1990's, the surface of the Meadowlands racetrack would be reverting back to the crushed limestone for harness racing after having concluded the most popular evening thoroughbred meet in the country. Pacers and trotters would be getting set to qualify and all the barns were gearing up for the winter meet at the Meadowlands. Five nights of racing excitement featuring winter series action and the best Standardbreds in the country. The early part of the week would feature winter series for the younger horses just getting started, like the Super Bowl or the White Ruffles, with the weekend racing boasting the Oil Burner, Exit 16W and others. I remember vividly streaming the races (if I was lucky and the internet felt like working on any given night) and making trip notes on horses from week to week. It was a great time to be a harness racing fan because on Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday nights, when people were typically wrapping up their day, mine was just starting because the Meadowlands was racing. My dad would always go to the Meadowlands on Thursday night with his friends and Saturday night was our night at The Big M. But when I was 13 or 14, he started letting me go on Thursday nights with them. The freezing cold of a Thursday night in January, packed into the middle rear seat of my dad's Oldsmobile amongst he and three of his closest friends. I still remember the excitement of just arriving in the Clubhouse teletheater, before the night even started. We would get there a good 90 minutes before post time, to eat dinner and handicap. A trip to Franchises to see what the dinner special was and back to my seat, before there were individual televisions in each station. We would look up on the wall of televisions to see where all the tracks being simulcast were being shown so dad could pick seats near the thoroughbred track he was betting. the Meadowlands was always on the big screen in the middle, so it didn't matter to me. ► Sign up for our FREE DRF Harness Digest Newsletter I used to hear all the time back then (in the mid to late 1990's), "you should have seen this place in its heyday, it was something else." I never understood it, the room I was in was filled, and there were people everywhere around the racetrack. It seemed like a pretty good time to be a harness racing fan at the Meadowlands to me. While I am certainly thankful that the Meadowlands is still racing on Fridays and Saturdays and the racing is still of a good quality, even I can admit it's not the same. The drivers used to flock to the Big M for the winter meet, with opportunities abound. There were plenty of good horses to go around. Now, some of the best drivers take these months off and we won't see them until the spring. The highly competitive winter late closers are a thing of the distant past and the on-track experience doesn't quite have the same energy. I think about what it used to be. The dinner from Franchise's, or maybe a sausage and pepper hero from the sports bar and grill. A mid-card cup of coffee from the Dunkin Donuts downstairs for my dad and his friends and a mid-card Carvel ice cream cone for me. An inviting feeling despite being years away from being legally permitted to walk up to a betting window and placing a wager. It didn't have to be a warm summer day with a carnival atmosphere in paddock park for me to feel at home at the Meadowlands, despite being 10, 12 or 14 years old. In 2023, can my wife and friends attend the races while dining in Pink or Trotters? Sure, we've done it several times and it is a fun night out for us. Would I bring my son there on a Saturday in January and sit in the first floor simulcast area with him? No, I wouldn't, and it upsets me to say that. With the sportsbook atmosphere of that floor and the lack of options to eat, the experience that was available to me is just not there for my son. He enjoys racing. He loves to spend a summer day at Monmouth Park and not just to run around with friends. He loves seeing the horses. I'll give him money for the day and he can pick any horses he wants and I will bet them for him.  There is a trip to Saratoga in his future for sure. But he is never going to be the hardcore racing fan that I am, because the opportunity for him to become one just is not there, not where we live, not where I grew up. If I had been born 25 years later, I doubt I would have become what I am today in racing. The interactions with Sam McKee, Dave Brower, Bob Heyden, Ken Warkentin and others on racing nights wouldn't have happened. Studying everything I could about Meadowlands racing so I could successfully answer the Carvel Quiz, wouldn't have happened. Gaining an internship at the Meadowlands where I would interview drivers before races and do handicapping shows for the Meadowlands website wouldn't have happened. If you were at the Meadowlands when I was there, you know what I am talking about. Thankfully, I made the most of that time, I appreciated it while it was taking place. I don't look back and think I missed anything. Sure, people did say to me “you should have seen this place when I was your age, it was something else.” But, growing up at the Meadowlands in the 1990's was pretty darn good too and now I find myself saying to my son, "you should have seen this place when I was your age, it was something else."